Point A to Point B

What got you to where you are today in your life (whether positive or negative)? Did you get where you are today from following your heart or from letting others influence (or should i say pollute) your decisions (which in turn made you shun what your heart wanted so you could appease those around you) or are you at a loss for words on how you got to this point in your life?

 

A little bit of goin' with the flow of things and a little of myself planning shit. Never knew what the hell I wanted to do in school so I just went with the flow of that, but the choice to stay in school was my own. My friend introduced the idea of joining the military to me but he didn't really influence me. The benefits of joining did, like money for school.

 

I sometimes wonder where time has gone? I somehow floated by. I'm not influenced by others, I do my own thing. It hasn't gotten me where I want to go yet, but I take care of things as they come. I can only plan so much. The cards will fall where they may.

 

I've always made impulsive decisions and followed my gut. I'm not much of a forward planner. I like to take life as it comes and be open to any and all possibilities!

That method hasn't let me down so far. Things seem to work out quite nicely

 

That's an interesting question Kush, I had to ponder it for a bit, points to you for actually making me think.

I know for certain I never let anyone influence me, though some tried, my mother in particular as she's very manipulative, but I never listened as she didn't have my best interests at heart and I always knew that. But I don't believe I followed my heart either, as I've done things I wasn't particularly fond of because they were necessary. I think I followed instinct and logic primarily. I went with what seemed like the most logical choices, tempered by instinct. If something just felt completely wrong, or something just wasn't working out well no matter how much effort I put into it, I took that as a sign that it wasn't meant to be and I went to the next most logical option on the list.

There is a lot of negative in my past, however I think I learned and benefited from it as it caused me to learn the skills that got me where I am. Had I had a normal upbringing, in the traditional sense of having parents who actually took care of their children, I wouldn't have been nearly as prepared to live on my own when I left the family at 15, and life could have been so much more difficult. So despite that I wouldn't want anyone else to grow up as I did, it did serve a purpose in preparing me really well for life. I believe that every experience, positive and negative, contributed to who I am and how I got to this point in life.

So I would say that I'm a better parent, have a higher earning career, and a more content life because of the bad, rather than the good. All experiences have purpose, even the negative ones, though it's hard to see that when you're experiencing it. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't change a thing, cause I'm happy where I am now.

 

My family...I come from an intact family with no drama in the nucleus. I love all my fam, but I'm a mommas boy, not psycho or anything along those lines, but she holds it down fo sure.

 

My beat up BMW.

 

Really liked this answer.... Ps its good to know that I made you have to use that beautiful brain of yours to think.

:smt043

 

Must spread some. :smt056 for the tough journey, the great job you've done & your bright future--FRESH

 

All of the above. I've made some rash decisions that were both good and bad for me.

I've allowed my family to talk me into things when I knew deep down I shouldn't go along with it, because whilst they had my best interests in mind, they let their own biases cloud the reality of my life. I wasn't strong enough to stand up for myself back then.

I've made some incredibly, horrifically bad decisions with money that I used to have. I am now broke because I allowed others to influence my decision making process. Derr.

When I finally decided to stop listening to everyone else, regarding my life, I believe I started to make the correct decisions for me and my daughter and we are now benefiting from them (even though it doesn't necessarily look that way on the surface).

But like Espy said, I learned from each and every experience and I wouldn't take them back, because I'm a stronger person emotionally for it.

And whilst I am nowhere near where I thought and hoped I'd be at this age, I'm more in tune with what it is I exactly want out of life now, and am slowly working my way towards those goals.

 

Do your thang girl...:smt039

 

You know Bookie this made me realize something, or rather remember something. I never expected to live this long, I was almost certain I'd never make it to 40, so much so that the year I turned 40 it surprised me that I was still alive. It was just a feeling that I got when I was 15 and it never went away. So I guess in my mind I'm much farther than where I expected to be at 42, since I didn't expect to see 42 at all. I'd completely forgotten about that until I read your post.

 

I always followed my heart, what doesn’t mean that a lot of people hadn‘t influence to me. The people around me, my experiences,my own pain,my travels and impessions made me to that person I am today and let me act as I do today.

Many times I am thinking „could I just be a little bit more manipulating, rude or slick- I could do and change so much more, as I am able to do now."
But then I think, would I choose that way,maybe I would lose my sympathy, empathy and self-respect; I would change to the kind of persons I really do not appreciate.

But at the end, I can wish as much as I want, you are , who you are and you only allow people to influence yourself as much as they fill up your own weaknesses. Friends show you, what you have,but enemies show you, what you miss.

 

When I was in my teens, I thought for sure I was going to die in a car accident when I was 18. I have no clue where that thought came from, but it was there.

Very weird! But it's good that we're both still around, when we thought we wouldn't be. :smt023

 

Id say what has gotten me to where Im at right now in life, a combination of fuck you im doing me syndrome, being too understanding to others, a clusterfuck of ups and downs, going from being in one social class to the next, unexpected deaths, and sometimes Im confused how I got to this point. Ive always been the guy who wanted to be the wise man that learns from the old mans mistakes but Ive realized sometimes experiencing failure from a 1st person view is a way better learning tool in life.

If anybody would of told me back when I was 17 that my life was gonna be the way it is now at 21, I would of laughed in their face. I love life but sometimes I hate that bitch with a passion and she hates me too. When life is going good it is the greatest feeling ever, but when life is going bad it really is the worst feeling ever. I use to try to micro manage my life, but Ive come to the realization that my life is best lived on the whim with planning here and there. Sometimes I look back and Im like damn I turned out pretty good and other times Im mad at myself because I didnt push myself hard enough. Everydays a day to learn something new and we're all students in this game of life.

 

Thank God to Eastern European female immigrants' cars, bunch of rave parties and lots of wild animal sex to get me to point B.

 

I think we tend to be our own worst critics Kush, so it's easy for us to see what we perceive to be shortcomings. As long as you learn something, whether the experience was a good one or bad one, even if you aren't pleased with the outcome, it had meaning and served a purpose.

BTW, for some reason I think you need one of these today... :smt056

 

I completely agree with everything you said... I learn something new everyday and I really enjoy the good days and bad days because at the end of the day atleast Im alive. Im actually having a pretty good day, but I still appreciate the e hug Espy :smt058

 

Anytime Kush. I'm stayin' out of that thread BTW, so no 'fuck you' needed. :smt042

 

Lol atleast you bring some knowledge to that thread everyone else for the most part brings ignorance and more salt to an open wound. I just hate when people bitch about shit that they have control over.